Most Penguin Populations Continue to Decline, Biologists Warn
ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010)
Studies show that the penguin population is decreasing. Penguins are found exclusively in the southern hemisphere in South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and some Antarctic islands. There are around fourteen different species, and all of them are decreasing in population. The decrease is mainly caused by four things. The first is climate change. This causes a change in water temperature, melting ice, and a less acceptable condition for the penguins to live in. These things are important for their fish, homes, mating, nesting, and migrating. Second, is overfishing. "As fishing efforts around the globe have multipled several fold over the last few decades, penguins are now competing with people for enough food" (ScienceDaily). The more fish we have means the less fish they have. Penguins mainly rely on small fish for food, so this is causing starvation for a handful of species. Third, is the large number of oil spills in the world each year. This is creating a harsh environment for the penguins. Oil spills kill thousands of penguins each year. Lastly, is the increased population of mammals in Australia and New Zealand. This includes cats and foxes that often prey on penguins. Many of these problems are caused by humans, and we are the ones who can fix them. I sure don't want one of nature's cutest and silliest animals to go extinct!
Opinion: All of these problems are caused by us. The only thing we must do is be careful and consider what will and could possibly happen to these beautiful birds.
Consider the following:
What could you do to help the penguins?
How do you think the penguins became so spread out among the southern hemisphere?
Do you think relocating all of the penguins in one specific area would help incline their population?
This is very depressing to hear. The penguin population is decreasing because of natural causes. I think to help the penguins we could fish less so the penguins would have more fish to eat. Humans have plenty of food as it is, we don't need to eat fish that often. I think the best thing we could do would be my answer to the third question. Yes, I think we should relocate all remaining penguins to a special location where they can have plenty of food, drink, and be able to reproduce their own kind. The penguin is on the verge of being extinct like other animals in our world and I think it needs to helped out so we can finally find a solution one day to animal extinction.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to take more interest in these birds before it's too late. I do think that some of the things going on could be from natural causes, but the majority of it is our fault. Global warming for example, could very well be our fault, not just nature's. The overfishing done by us humans is a huge problem too, so i think we need to cut down on our fishing to help the penguins. Something else that wouldn't benefit them is relocating all of the penguins in one specific area. There are various types of penguins, and each of them are in their own habitat or location for a reason. Moving them all to the same place would not be beneficial for many of them. It is very important that we take many precautions involving things that could effect the birds in a negative way. If we don't, penguins and many other species could become extinct sooner than we think.
ReplyDelete:-( I for one, love penguins, and hate to hear of their struggles to survive as a species. I agree with you 100% that it is caused by us as humans, and us as humans need to fix it. Question 1: I dont think that there is anything i specifically can do but the human race as a whole, can do alot. For example, we can stop overfishing and usising fish tht the penguins feed on less often and just decrease out dependency on fish all together, that way we not only help the penguins but help other species that rely on fish to eat as well. Question 2: I think they became so spread out over the wesztern hemisphere just because of lack of food. The fish shortage impacted all the penguins so they had to spread out in order ffor them to have enough fish tpo survive, and they still dont have enough. Question 3: Yes, locating all the penguins to a central area would incline their species because4 as i said in question 2, thats the whole reason they spread out in the first place is because of the lack of fish, so forcing them back together in one central location would just drop their population even more. I researched the topic a little bit more on my own and i am providing as link to a good site if you are interested: http://beforeitsnews.com/story/174/444/More_than_half_of_penguin_species_in_decline.html I'm not sure if thios is the site Jake used to fins this information bc it is very similar to what he said with all the reasons and stuff, but theyre in a different order than Jake has them. One thing it mentions here is this information was gathered at a conference of enviormantalist. I feel confort in this, because that means that this cause is being looked into and that we are making an effort to fix it :-) But on the other hand its also out fault this happened, so i also feel like, we shouldve just taken care of them right the first time. So i sort of have mixed feelings about this topic, But i feel very stronly that this should be fixed by humans asap because it is out fault there fore it is our responsibility to clean up the mess weve gotten oursleves, and the penguins into.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Nicole and Ben, considering penguins are one of many animals whose population is on the decline. Because of our ignorance penguins could be headed in a place they shouldn't be going. Like Jake mentioned, Global warming and overfishing are huge foes that are a big reason why a lot of animals(especially penguins) need some major help but there are some problems with overcoming them. As many breakthroughs we are having in the scientific field to fight against the climate problem, we do not have enough resources to effectively put a stop to it currently. Also, since the fishing industry plays a considerable role in the world's economy, it's easier said then done to say "cut down on fishing" considering fishing brings in a good chunk of revenue. In response to Jake's second question I have to go with Ben by saying that a food shortage may be the cause to the penguins' location diversity. Adding on to that, I think not only did the penguins leave from free will, they also were forced to leave because of oil spills. And lastly, I have to disagree with Chris on this one because grouping and relocating the penguins to one area would not only lead to territorial fights between different colonies of different species of penguins, but like Ben said there is only going to be so much fish in that relocating spot for thousands and thousands of penguins to eat. With that shortage of food for a such a massive group of penguins, the population plummeting is inevitable. So we do have to try our best to stop this rapid fall but the extinction of penguins will only be a stepping stone to a whole new level of disasters and consequences.
ReplyDelete